Open Source

Zend Apigility 1.0 For API-Based Apps

By Adrian Bridgwater, May 13, 2014

Open-source API Builder provides standardized UI

Zend Apigility 1.0 is a standard interface for building, maintaining, designing, and implementing APIs. It works to simplify support for advanced API traits such as versioning, validation, error handling, and documentation.

The firm argues that an API-based architecture is integral to future-proofing applications, allowing the same APIs to be used across multiple form factors and mobile device types — and reused in different applications throughout a company's technology ecosystem.

"With the right set of APIs, companies can support web and mobile apps whose data and services are provided by multiple backend systems and more easily provide service to multiple frontend devices and form factors," said Zeev Suraski, CTO and Cofounder of Zend. "Developers can use Apigility to build APIs that enable mobile apps, developer communities, and any other consumer-controlled access to applications. Apigility automates some of the API-creation process, also enabling developers to evolve — including adding, updating, or removing — their APIs as requirements change. Developers can also tailor APIs to specifications needed to address business requirements.

"Achieving agility as a company has two sides to it — on the one hand developing in a more rapid and agile manner — and here is where APIs have a pivotal importance. But there is also the side of moving that application more rapidly from development into production — and Zend believes that both sides need to be given equal weight," said Andi Gutmans, CEO and cofounder of Zend. "Adopting an API-based architecture both helps speed initial development of new apps but also makes those components more usable and reusable, thus helping speed future development efforts too. However, the other half of the equation is to invest in the capability to continuously deliver those new apps to market."

Apigility allows any PHP-based business logic to be API enabled regardless of how it's written and what framework it uses, if any. Apigility will verify whether each client is capable of viewing an application, and whether data submitted to an API is of an acceptable content type. If not, Apigility sends back a response indicating that the API can't provide a representation, or cannot understand the data.

Apigility supports multiple versions of the same API and enables developers to support both old and up-to-date clients at the same time, fully automating version negotiation. The user interface allows developers to manage all versions of the API from one centralized place, and provision new versions as needed.

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